Power driven fastener driving apparatus for serially driving fasteners into a workpiece are known in the art. Typically, such apparatus comprise a vibrating feed hopper, and a feed or escapement assembly for receiving the fasteners from the delivery chute of the hopper, and for serially delivering them through a discharge tube to a power driven tool. Apparatus of this general type are disclosed, for example, in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,184 to Willis and U.S. Pat. No. 3,247,874 to MacDonald.
While the known apparatus of the described type are generally suitable for their intended use, the known feed or escapement assemblies are structurally complex, in that they utilize mechanical mechanisms to feed the fasteners into the discharge tube leading to the screw-driver. This complexity increases the cost of the assembly and reduces its reliability.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a fastener feed assembly of the described type which is of relatively simple construction, so as to minimize its cost and increase its reliability.
It is a more particular object of the present invention to provide a fastener feed assembly of the described type which has a simplified mechanism for moving the fastener into the delivery tube.